There is a deeply problematic tendency amongst Christians to insist that ‘God told me’. If by that you mean that you read it in the bible, then yes, fair enough, God did tell you. But if that is the case, he also told everyone else too.

In such cases, it means this is not some idea that you came up with yourself or thought you had which you are trying to load with the authority of God without any way or means by which anybody else can test it as such. You can point to the recognised word of God and highlight directly what he has said that is necessarily binding. If that is the case, it is more helpful, accurate and compelling to insist ‘the bible says’ rather than ‘God told me’ because it is verifiable by any honest reader and all who love God will recognise his word and submit to it.

Of course, that is almost never what people mean when they say ‘God told me’. Not least because, if it is what the bible says, they affirm ‘the bible says’. They reference the bible because they know, as I have said above, where the bible speaks, God speaks and where God undeniably speaks, his people are undeniably bound. Why settle for an eminently deniable ‘God told me’ when I can point to an undeniable ‘the bible says’?

‘God told me’ is inevitably saved for times and places where the bible specifically hasn’t spoken. It may be the result of supposed ‘pomptings’, it could be the work of our own minds or, almost certainly in some cases, the product of the sinful desires of our hearts. Whichever it may be, ‘God told me’ is the hallmark of someone seeking a level of authority that is unwarranted on something they just wanted to do.

Now, don’t get me wrong, God’s spirit may well be prompting us to do something. For example, I think it is rare that you are going to feel led to pray for someone apart from the Spirit prompting you to do so. But we generally know we are following the Spirit’s promptings when we are being prompted to do something that is expressly commanded or encouraged more explicitly in the Word. The reason I believe we are unlikely to be prompted to pray apart from the Spirit’s work is because the bible tells me that is part of what the Spirit does, I am aware that my heart doesn’t naturally tend towards prayer and God expressly says in his word that this is something we should do. Did God supernatually ‘tell me’ to pray for that person? Not exactly. I deduce that I was prompted by the Spirit (simply because that is what goes on when we pray) and my mind decided to do it in line with the Spirit-led affection of my heart. There was no voice or vision saying ‘pray for Bob!’

But this is clearly different to somebody asserting, ‘God has told me to marry this person’ or ‘God has told me I must get this job’. The truth is, he has done no such thing. Might God be prompting you? Maybe. But how can you judge that with any degree of certainty when nothing in his word says this must be so? How do you know it isn’t just an idea you dreamt up off the top of your head? How do you know this isn’t some sinful desire that you have convinced yourself is good? After all, the heart is deceitful above all things. If you can’t say it is God’s Spirit prompting you with any certainty, how much less do you have the right to say ‘God told me’?

Even if you are utterly convinced that God is prompting you, leaving aside the rightness or wrongness of that assumption, you don’t necessarily know why. It isn’t unheard of for God to move his people to do things that (from our perspective) appear to turn to abject failure. So often ‘God told me’ is wheeled out as if to say this has God’s seal of approval on it so you must get on board with what I am saying or else you are defying the living God. But why presume that when, in fact, God might be prompting you to do something in order to teach you a particular lesson; one that may not line up with your particular desire. Maybe the Lord is addressing your sin or maybe the Lord is leading you to do something that will address a part of your character or perhaps the Lord is leading you to one thing so that the consequences of it might be to your good in an altogether different way. Even if we are convinced God is prompting us, not only has he not specifically ‘told me’, why would we presume to know what outcome he intends from it?

But these things only really address our internal sense of whatever is being said. None of them really get to the heart of the issue. In scripture, those who were bringing God’s word were consistently attested by God in verifiable ways. There is a reason Nicodemus could say to Jesus, ‘we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him’ (John 3:2). Consistently, those sent by God with God’s word were attested with God’s signs. This is true in both the Old Testament and the New. It was true for Old Testament prophets, for the Christ to whom they pointed and for the Apostles who were sent after him. That is why Paul insists, when his Apostleship is being questioned, ‘I performed the signs of an Apostle among you’ (2 Cor 12:12). This is only reasonable because what reason should anybody have to listen to somebody claiming God’s authority? Prove you are bringing God’s word is a perfectly legitimate thing to demand! And God consistently attested such people through signs.

So, what of those who insist ‘God told me’ today? It is perfectly legitimate to ask: and why should we believe that? What evidence have you got that God told you? How are you distinguishing between your own thoughts and God speaking? What evidence have you got, that can be verified by anybody else, that you are speaking authoritatively or that God has said something specific to you? If there is none, not only are we justified in disbelieving that God said anything to you, we would be absolutely insane to think he has! Why on earth would you reasonably expect anybody to believe you apart from some solid evidence, such as a miraculous sign, that you are saying anything beyond thoughts from your own head that you are trying to embue with a level of authority that they do not warrant?

This matters for a few reason. First, ‘God told me’ is really sinfully manipulative. God never speaks and just expects people to believe it. God attests to his people so that we are not left in any doubt that this person speaks authoritively in his name. To assert that ‘God told me’ is usually just a power play to try and twist people’s arms into doing whatever it is that we think must be done. If I claim ‘God told me’ and you stand in my way, you are standing against the Almghty. Otherwise, it is a means of innoculating ourselves against criticism for whatever it is we are doing. After all, if ‘God told me’ you can’t criticise or question me. But apart from an attesting sign from God, this is little more than sinful manipulation. It is claiming God’s authority on something that he has not said in order to force people into doing what you want or not criticising you, even if that criticism might be entirely justified.

Second, it impacts biblical credibility. We absolutely believe the bible because it is God’s word. We have evidence that scripture is God’s word and believe God attested those who wrote it verifiably. Scripture itself repeatedly attests to God’s prophets being recognised as such through means that could be verified externally and properly. They were not just blokes who claimed to speak in God’s name and a nation of dolts just accepted it because they said so. The bible is quite clear on this point over and over again. They were attested as prophets by God, Jesus was attested as God’s final prophet and the Apostles were attested as Jesus’ appointed spokemen. Reject the evidence if you will, but the bible at least claims there is some evidence for accepting them to speak authoritatively. That entire biblical claim is undermined everytime a Christian asserts ‘God told me’ without any such verifiable evidence.

Third, it is pastorally problematic. If ‘God told me’ is justifiable, then you are placing yourself above criticism. How many people have tried to evade church discipline because ‘God told me’ it was fine? How many churches have been led astray because someone asserted ‘God told me’ and everyone must be bound by it? How many people have sinfully inserted themselves into other people’s business on the spurious grounds that ‘God told me’? How many rumours and bits of gossip have been passed around and justified as ‘God told me’? And if we accept God did tell you, then who are we to discipline you for it or stand up and insist this is sin? ‘God told me’ becomes the magic words to utter to avoid any sort of scrutiny, discipline or criticism. It is both manipulative and dangerous. It places us in a dangerous position of being beyond criticism and stops anyone being able to say ‘I don’t think God said this; I think your sinful heart did!’

We really need to expunge this phrase from our vocabulary. If God told you, then he has told all of us in his word. If God hasn’t told us in his word, unless you’ve got a miracle to back yourself up, nobody can have any confidence (least of all yourself) that God told you anything at all. If it is just something we really want to do or we think is a good idea, we should be content to own that and point to whatever biblical principles have informed that position. If it is something we think needs saying to another person because of some error or sin on their part, it isn’t unreasonable for them to expect more than your unattested, unverifiable ‘God told me’ before they feel harshly judged. The overt and clear words of scripture are safer and stronger ground. If we just feel led to do something – we are convinced we are being prompted – we shouldn’t presume to place God’s authority on it. Rather, we should simply affirm it is something we feel led to do, we think is legitimate and let the Lord do his thing such as he wants to without presuming to place his authority on it. After all, if it is of the Lord, whatever he wants will come to pass and if it isn’t why put yourself in the position of making yourself look foolish by claiming to have his authority when it becomes evident later on that it didn’t?